Rocket City Marathon
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Caitlin Heider groaned while requiring a helping hand - or two, or
three - upon finishing Saturday's Rocket
City Marathon, the first time she'd gone the 26.2-mile distance.

"Happy or tired?" someone asked.

"TIRED!" she said.

That's what running a 2:53.52 marathon will do to you. It will also earn you a
second-place women's finish behind Jill Horst of Rome, Ga.

"The last three miles I was like 'Can I stop?' "
saidHeider, who recently completed her career
at UAH. "After 23 miles my legs were not feeling good."

Heider picked up $750 for her effort, but she didn't
plan on having the money for long.

"I'm going shopping for Christmas presents," she said.

Riddle me this Former Bob Jones
High and Auburn
star David Riddle ran with the lead pack for the first 18-plus miles before
eventual winner Josh Cox broke away. Considering it was his first marathon -
and he was battling a tender hamstring - Riddle came away mostly pleased with
his fifth-place finish (2:27.27).

"I felt really good aerobically, but I felt (my hamstring) about seven
miles in," he said. I just wanted to hang in there as long as I could and
I did."

"As bad as I felt the last six miles, I'm just happy I finished. I would
have liked to have run faster, but that's all I had."

Masters and commandersMadison's George Dewitt finished second in
the masters division and picked up $750 in the process. The 50-year-old ran a
2:39.17, about six minutes behind masters winner James
Beyer of Dayton,
Ohio, who came in eighth overall.

Race winners each received $1,000. Second place received $750, third place $500
and fourth and fifth place $250. Masters winners got $750, with second place
receiving $500 and third place $250.

Race numbers The race had 1,406
runners registered, with approximately 1,250 people actually picking up their
race packets before the start of the marathon and 1,121 finishing the race.

Rome tradition
As the top female finisher in Saturday's Rocket City Marathon, Jill Horst
continued what's becoming a tradition. It's the third straight year the top
female has hailed from Rome,
Ga.

Janet Cherobon, who sat out Saturday's race, was the
top female in 2007 and '08.

"That is very special," Cherobon said.
"That's why I came down here to cheer her on. It's very exciting for
us."

The two train together when their schedules allow. "I just told her not to
go too fast and the course is going to be good," Cherobon
said of her advice to Horst. "It's a great course and the people here are
great. She did great. I was really proud of her."

Eyeing the Olympics Horst has a
long-term goal in her running - to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 2012. She
said the speculation is that runners must run a marathon in less than 2 hours,
46 minutes to qualify for the Trials - which is where the Olympic team is
chosen. Horst posted a career-best Saturday of 2:48.

"You never know what can happen once you get there," Horst said of
the Trials. "But that's my goal, to get there and
run with all the women I read about and look up to so much."